History Theatre / Hadestown

* AmbiguousSituation:
** On Broadway, there's a narrow window where Orpheus could try to run with Eurydice beyond the wall, but neither of them try. It's unclear if by Eurydice signing her life away, that she can't simply walk beyond the wall, or if she tried that Hades would know immediately.
** Hades enticing Eurydice is portrayed as either [[RapeAsDrama sexual coercion]], a seduction, a pressganging, or an AntiHero providing what an optimistic, naive fool couldn't.

* OhCrap: The moment Orpheus turns around too early and dooms Eurydice, both he and Eurydice's faces go from helpful to [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone terrified regret]].

* AmbiguousSituation: On Broadway, there's a narrow window where Orpheus could try to run with Eurydice beyond the wall, but neither of them try. It's unclear if by Eurydice signing her life away, that she can't simply walk beyond the wall, or if she tried that Hades would know immediately.

* OnlyTheLeadsGetAHappyEnding: Inverted; of all the people in the place, Orpheus and Eurydice end up in the worst position by the end of the play, as they're separated forever while Hades and Persephone are on the mend and spring returns to the world above.

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* GroundhogDayLoop: Crossed with BreakingTheFourthWall. "Road to Hell" begins with Hermes acknowledging this is an old and well-known myth already ("It's an old song… but we're gonna sing it again"), and "Road to Hell (Reprise)" has him tell us they'll sing it again. This is complete with the whole stage resetting to the opening of the show, with Eurydice — whom we just saw lost to Hadestown forever — reappearing as she was before the story happened, once more asking Hermes for a light; however, we know it is slightly different as Persephone arrives on time.

-->--'''Hermes, "Road to Hell"'''

* NatureVersusTechnology: Hades and Persephone's marriage is on the rocks in part because Hades keeps turning Hadestown into an industrial artificial city in a misguided attempt to reach out to her. Persephone, a goddess of nature and springtime, finds it appalling and calls it a "neon necropolis". The Broadway version ups the ante by stating that Hades is also keeping Persephone away from the surface for longer periods of time, which throws the seasons out of balance.

* InsistentTerminology: Orpheus plays a guitar, but he and everyone else calls it a lyre.

* SettingUpdate: The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is moved from the mythical interpretation of Mycenaean Greece to the United States during TheGreatDepression.

* AdultFear: All of "Chant I" with the leads bring up realistic fears.
** Hades is trying to reach out to his wife, but is driving her away further with his actions. Eventually, he gets so frustrated that he says he'll find someone else who will appreciate him.
** Persephone says she dislikes her husband for causing the Earth to rot and people to starve, with the crops dying and the oceans overflowing. She says she doesn't know him anymore.
** Meanwhile, it's the dead of winter. A starving Eurydice is robbed of everything she has — by the Fates, no less — and can only scream to the cold for someone save her. It makes her the perfect prey for Hades, who lures her to Hadestown with a promise of food and warmth, and she's horrified to learn that the price for food and board is endless work and losing her memories of the world above.
** Hermes, who had raised Orpheus as his son, has to contend with the young man venturing to Hadestown on his own to rescue Eurydice. Hermes is clearly well-aware of the dangers Orpheus will run into, but because Orpheus is so dead-set on going, all Hermes can do is give him specific instructions on how to stay safe on his way to Hadestown in “Wait For Me” and hope that he returns. He can't stay away forever, however; he goes PapaWolf and follows Orpheus, encouraging him to sing to Hades and giving him and Eurydice the advice on how to pass the test.

** Orpheus starts the play refusing to take Hermes's sensible advice. He then becomes more thoughtful and introspective when Eurydice goes missing, and follows the god's directions on how to get to his wife and Hadestown. However, he loses his innocence and faith not only in himself, but in people's good intentions, asking in "If It's True" whether this is how the world is after getting beat up by the workers and learning that Eurydice had chosen to leave him. This leads directly to the doubts in her and in himself that ultimately cause him to turn back on the trek to the overworld, trapping Eurydice in Hadestown forever.
** Eurydice develops in the opposite direction: at first cynical and unwilling to rely on anyone but herself, or to settle down in any one place, she comes to develop complete faith in Orpheus to lead her out of Hadestown and build a life together. Tragically, [[DownerEnding that faith turns out to be misplaced]].

* AnachronismStew: As Hermes says, "Don't ask where, brother, don't ask when." It's not just that this is a SettingUpdate of an ancient Greek myth to the 20th-century United States; the creators have been very open that despite the show being billed as a "Depression-era" show, the setting freely borrows aesthetics from both earlier and later decades. The band's costumes are all from different time periods, and the newspaper Orpheus folds into a flower is an 80s-era flyer for an Music/ArethaFranklin act.

* ActionizedAdaptation: A mild example compared to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, where Orpheus entered and left the Underworld without much issue aside from the whole turning-back thing. In ''Hadestown'', it's a long, dangerous trek, and he's already battered before Hades has his workers beat him up and attempt to force him out. Hades additionally threatens to kill him once he's done singing.

* DramaticIrony: In "Chant," Orpheus sings of Hades being deafened by his focus on his work while Persephone blinds herself with wine… all while he can't hear Eurydice and Hermes calling for him and can't see the growing storm above. This also applies to the NYTW version of the song, where Orpheus sang of a love gone wrong while Eurydice grew increasingly angry at his singing over providing for them.

Music/AnaisMitchell's ''Hadestown'' began life as a small-scale theatrical production in Vermont before it was turned into [[Music/{{Hadestown}} a concept album]] in 2010. In 2016, ''Hadestown'' returned to the stage with an expanded story and revised tracklist. This version of the show premiered Off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop, followed by a reading at New 42nd Street Studios in 2017, a production at the Citadel Theatre in Alberta Canada in 2017, and a run at the UK's National Theatre from November 2018 to January 2019. It then transferred to Broadway's Walter Kerr Theatre, where it premiered on April 17, 2019.

* JobSong: Several songs feature the Workers toiling in Hades' factories. Their portions of "Chant" introduce them and the mantra they chant to keep out of trouble, while "Why We Build the Wall" has Hades holding a rally to explain how 'vital' their jobs are. "Way Down Hadestown (Reprise)" has Eurydice being inducted into the fold of Workers and the mines, mills and machinery. Later songs such s "If It's True" and "Chant (Reprise)" subvert the trope by starting out with the Workers at work like normal, but deciding to stop and stand with Orpheus.

* RayOfHopeEnding: Like in the myth, Orpheus fails the test and Eurydice is trapped in Hadestown forever; as Hermes reminds us, it's a tragedy. But he also reminds the audience of the importance of telling sad and inspirational stories, and the characters pledge to sing the story again and again, in the hope that ''this'' time it will turn out right (and indeed at the end, Persephone brings ''spring'' rather than ''summer,'' hinting that things might change for the better).

* RayOfHopeEnding: Like in the myth, Orpheus fails the test and Eurydice is trapped in Hadestown forever; as Hermes reminds us, it's a tragedy. But he also reminds the audience of the importance of telling sad and inspirational stories, and the characters pledge to sing the story again and again, in the hope that ''this'' time it will turn out right.

** Meanwhile, it's the dead of winter. A starving Eurydice is robbed of everything she has — by the Fates, no less — and can only scream to the cold for someone save her. It makes her the perfect prey for Hades, who lures her to Hadestown with a promise of food and warmth, and she;s horrified to learn that the price for food and board is endless work and losing her memories of the world above.

** Meanwhile, it's the dead of winter. A starving Eurydice is robbed of everything she has — by the Fates, no less — and can only scream to the cold for someone to, "SHELTER US, HARBOR ME!" It makes her the perfect prey for Hades, who lures her to Hadestown with a promise of food and warmth.
** Orpheus senses something is wrong when Eurydice goes missing while he is working on the song. Then he finds out that she sold herself into slavery, and is beaten up when he tries to rescue her.
** Hermes, who had raised Orpheus as his son, had to contend with the young man venturing to Hadestown on his own to rescue Eurydice. Hermes is clearly well aware of the dangers Orpheus will run into, but because Orpheus is so dead-set on going, all Hermes can do is give him specific instructions on how to stay safe on his way to Hadestown in “Wait For Me” and hope that he returns. He can't stay away forever, however; he goes PapaWolf and follows Orpheus, encouraging him to sing to Hades and giving him and Eurydice the advice on how to pass the test.
** Just the idea of being coerced into selling yourself into slavery under false pretenses and being forced into manual labor for the rest of your days as you become a shell of your former self.

The show is a SettingUpdate of the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology myth of Orpheus and Eurydice]], with a deliberately vague setting that evokes [[FantasyAmericana the United States sometime during the mid-20th century]]. The god Hermes is singing an old tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, a couple who struggle to survive in a harsh world where the seasons are out of joint thanks to Hades and Persephone's deteriorating marriage. While Persephone brings summertime and fills the world with life all too briefly, Orpheus hopes to write a song to bring back spring, and promises Eurydice the world.

When Orpheus is too focused on songwriting to provide, Eurydice is left to the harsh winter. Out of pragmatism, she accepts Hades' offer to come to Hadestown and work forever with food and board, learning too late it's in exchange for her life and memories. Armed only with his music and love for Eurydice, Orpheus sets off for Hadestown to get her back, and perhaps bring back spring as well. Hermes has warned the audience that it's a sad song, a tragedy, but holds out hope that ''maybe'' it'll turn out this time--only the Fates know for sure.

* ActionizedAdaptation: A mild example compared to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, where Orpheus entered and left the Underworld without much issue aside from the whole turning-back thing. In ''Hadestown'' it's a long, dangerous trek, and he's already battered before Hades has his workers beat him up and attempt to force him out. Hades additionally threatens to kill him once he's done singing.
* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: In mythology Hades and Persephone had one of the happiest, healthiest relationships in the entire pantheon, while in ''Hadestown'' their marriage is on the rocks and has been for some time. [[spoiler:By the end, they're both working on trying again]].

** Hadestown was, from the start, a more fleshed out version of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, with additional anti-capitalist themes. The concept album was a revision/adaptation of a small-scale stage musical (also by Anais Mitchell) that had two runs in Vermont, which was a very abstract, sparse experience with relatively little in the way of explicit story--it was after the release of the album that Mitchell began to flesh out the story with more songs ("Road to Hell" and "Chant" and their reprises most notably) to make the setting and the nature of events much clearer.

** In the concept album and original cast recording, Hades plots to let Orpheus and Eurydice think they've won by letting them go, only to set them up to fail as a means of keeping his workers in line. In the Broadway version, while still politically motivated, his chance is fair without any underhandedness and he honestly doesn't know if they'll make it or not. It's further driven home by Hermes who explicitly states that it's not a trick, but a ''test'', so it's all up to Orpheus.
** The concept album and NYTW recording had the Fates outright lie about what Hadestown was like and mock Eurydice for believing their promises of paradise, while in the Broadway version they tell half-truths and don't engage in gloating, just facts about what will happen now that she's signed the deal. The new notes for the Broadway version say that the Fates are not bullies; they just tell it like it is.

** Hades is trying to reach out to his wife but is driving her away further with his actions. Eventually he gets so frustrated that he says he'll find someone else who will appreciate him.

** Meanwhile, it's the dead of winter. A starving Eurydice is robbed of everything she has--by the Fates, no less--and can only scream to the cold for someone to, "SHELTER US, HARBOR ME!" It makes her the perfect prey for Hades, who lures her to Hadestown with a promise of food and warmth.

* AllForNothing: Eurydice gives up her life to go to Hadestown, thinking it's a place of rest and comfort, and learns she sold her soul to perform eternal hard labor. Orpheus risks just as much to travel to Hadestown and rescue her; after many trials, they get a chance to leave safely and together... [[spoiler: but after so much doubt has been put into his mind, Orpheus turns to look back at the last second. Eurydice is doomed to Hadestown forever, and Orpheus is left to walk the Earth, forever carrying the guilt of it. [[ResetButtonEnding Unless they get it right next time]].

** Then there's Persephone. It's unclear if Hades in the Broadway version kidnapped her or if she married him of her own volition and isn't bound by any deal; the off-Broadway production confirmed the former, that Persephone followed him into the Underworld. They ''did'' really love each other once, but she seems not to have a choice about going back to Hadestown. In any case, Hades complains about her staying away too long and says that he misses her.
** Then there is Hermes. In Greek mythology, he's a messenger of the gods, not a bard, and is noted for being a god of tricksters and thieves. Here he serves as the narrator of the story, in the hopes that the cycle will break. Can we trust Hermes when he sends Orpheus to Hadestown and claims he's telling the tale to break the cycle?

* BookEnds: "Road to Hell" and "Road to Hell (Reprise)". In the former, Hermes introduces the audience to all the characters of the story--which, he says, is "a sad song, a tragedy," but "maybe it will turn out this time." [[spoiler:It doesn't. The song will still be sung again and again, because doing so despite knowing how it ends proves that there is still hope for the world that can be--just like Orpheus wanted. The story ends with all the characters resuming their places at the start of the story.]]

** Orpheus is a WideEyedIdealist from the beginning of the story. His ability to make one see the way that the world ''can'' be is described as a "gift." Even when he finds out that Eurydice has been taken to Hadestown, he wastes no time in pursuing her--believing that she was taken against her will, and determined to save her. Hades brutally informs him that Eurydice came of her own free will before siccing his workers on Orpheus, beating him to a pulp. This, as well as learning that Eurydice left him willingly, causes Orpheus to lament that this may be the way the world really is ("If It's True"). The workers rallying around him gives him enough confidence to lead the riot back to Hades, [[spoiler:but unfortunately, he doesn't recover from it. Having his entire worldview shattered causes Orpheus to doubt that Hades would let him and Eurydice go, or that she would even follow him--he turns around to look and make sure, condemning her to Hadestown for eternity.]]

** "Flowers (Eurydice's Song)" for Eurydice. She's finally free of hunger, but now she'll spend the rest of her existence working herself to an empty husk--already forgetting her own name.

** Orpheus starts the play refusing to take Hermes's sensible advice. He then becomes more thoughtful and introspective when Eurydice goes missing, and follows the god's directions on how to get to his wife and Hadestown. However, he loses his innocence and faith not only in himself but in people's good intentions, asking in "If It's True" whether this is how the world is after getting beat up by the workers and learning that Eurydice had chosen to leave him. This leads directly to the doubts in her and in himself that ultimately cause him to turn back on the trek to the overworld, trapping Eurydice in Hadestown forever.
** Eurydice develops in the opposite direction: at first cynical and unwilling to rely on anyone but herself, or to settle down in any one place, she comes to develop complete faith in Orpheus to lead her out of Hadestown and build a life together. Tragically, [[DownerEnding that faith turns out to be misplaced.]]

* CompanyTown: The realm of Hades is reimagined as one of these -- Hadestown is a city where everyone is guaranteed a job, but that job is working in Hades' mines, factories or the endless construction site of the Wall. Hades is everyone's boss, and the only place to spend any money or have any fun is Persephone's "Our Lady of the Underground" speakeasy. The song "Way Down Hadestown" suggests the ''whole world'' of the play is the CompanyTown of Hadestown, with the "Up Above" world outside of it just the unemployed drifters on the outskirts of it. Specifically, the Fates point out that all of the money in the world -- "every little penny in the wishing well, every nickel on the drum" -- originates from Hadestown one way or another.

* CrapsackWorld: Things are bad above ground, where poverty and starvation are always barely an inch away. Hadestown is even worse, where workers toil without rest to build an endless wall and other projects that Persephone can't stand but Hades demands they keep working.

* CrowdSong: "Why We Build The Wall" is Hades holding a rally to keep his workers in line with the circular reasons for building his endless wall.

* DarkestHour: "If It's True". Hades, after brutally mocking Orpheus for his optimism, orders his workers to beat him senseless, and it seems that nothing can convince Hades to let Eurydice go. Even worse, Eurydice came willingly, instead of by force as Orpheus thought--she lost faith in Orpheus' ability to provide for her and song to bring back spring, leaving for the security of Hadestown. All this ruins Orpheus so badly that he considers leaving without Eurydice, until he realizes the Workers are singing with him and renewing his hope.
* DarkReprise: Happens multiple times through the show, which functions as a whole as a metaphor for loss of innocence -- as we learn more about the dark nature of the world of the play and of the city of Hadestown specifically, we come back to previous themes (both literal and musical) [[OnceMoreWithClarity with a clearer understanding of the darkness behind them]]:

** "Chant" is also, itself, a DarkReprise of "Wedding Song", with Persephone and Hades' verses a dark reflection of Orpheus and Eurydice's innocent flirting aboveground -- instead of young lovers jokingly extracting extravagant promises from each other about the future, it's an old married couple flinging barbs at each other about what they've done for each other in the past and how they now feel owed and taken for granted.
** "Road to Hell (Reprise)" is one for "Road to Hell", bringing back the rousing OpeningChorus and making its title literal, showing us a heartbroken, exhausted Hermes with all the excitement he had to start telling this story wrung out of him by a tragic ending that -- we finally learn -- he's known was inevitable all along. But see TriumphantReprise below.

** Implied to be Hades de facto way of bringing new workers to Hadestown. He seeks out the suffering and offers an end to their troubles. In exchange, however, they'll do nothing but hard labor mining riches for him, and over time they will lose all memories of their former life. This is how he convinces Eurydice, starving and freezing cold, to come to Hadestown.
** Orpheus makes one with Hades, as in the original myth. He is allowed to bring Eurydice back to the surface unhindered under one condition: she follows behind him, and if he turns to look at her before they've reached the surface she must remain behind forever. Hades correctly guesses that Orpheus won't be able to take it, and he'll turn to look to know that she's still there before they reach the surface.

** "Hey Little Songbird" has Hades, an older, richer man in a position of power tricking Eurydice, an impoverished, vulnerable young woman into working for him under false pretenses. Eurydice doesn't realize just what exactly she agreed to until it's too late.

* DontLookBack: Hades' test to Orpheus is to see if he can walk out of the Underworld without looking behind him to see if Eurydice is following; since Hades himself doubted Persephone's love, he's seeing just how far the similarities run. [[spoiler:As in the myth, Orpheus looks back]].
* DoomedMoralVictor: Defied, as Hades initially threatens to kill Orpheus after he sings "one more song" for him. Once Orpheus actually sings it and moves Hades' heart, Hades realizes killing him will make him a martyr to his workers while letting him go will make them agitate for freedom, so he arranges the famous test.

* DramaticIrony: In "Chant," Orpheus sings of Hades being deafened by his focus on his work while Persephone blinds herself with wine...all while he can't hear Eurydice and Hermes calling for him and can't see the growing storm above. This also applies to the NYTW version of the song, where Orpheus sang of a love gone wrong while Eurydice grew increasingly angry at his singing over providing for them.

* EverybodyHatesHades: Hades is the king of the Underworld, and acts as the antagonist for much of the play. At the same time, though, it's not taken to the same extent of other portrayals of Hades, as he genuinely loves his wife even if it's misguided and agrees to give Orpheus a fair chance to leave when he proves his worth.
* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles: In the Broadway production, all the gods--and ''only'' the gods--have a bit of glitter to their costumes to indicate their divinity.[[note]] Persephone has sequins on her bodice, Hermes has silver shoes and a shiny brocade waistcoat, the Fates have sections of shiny fabric in their scarves, and Hades' suit has mylar pinstripes.[[/note]]

* ExpositoryThemeTune: "Road to Hell" is a very old-fashioned song where Hermes and the Chorus go through the cast and introduce the setting of the show and the characters one by one with NoFourthWall. Mitchell said she intended the opening of the show to evoke both the idea of Hermes as an informal storyteller and to pay homage to [[TruerTotheText ancient Greek epics]], which would typically begin with an enumeration of the gods and heroes who appear in the narrative (and giving each of the gods mentioned their due praise to avoid their wrath).

* FeministFantasy: Zigzagged. Eurydice actively chooses to go with Hades rather than simply dying of an accidental snakebite, and Persephone is actively arguing with Hades and undermining his rule rather than only being moved to intervene on Orpheus' behalf at the moment he sings. However, Eurydice remains a helpless victim of Hades' power who has to trust entirely in Orpheus to save her, and no one questions the fact that Persephone ''cannot'' actually overthrow Hades as TopGod or change his rules herself--all she can do is try to persuade him to be merciful and reconcile to bring back spring.
* FinalLoveDuet: "Promises" has a reprise of the Wedding Song as Orpheus and Eurydice reaffirm their love for one another, and if they get through this all they'll need is each other from now on.

* ForegoneConclusion: Assuming you're at all familiar with Greek mythology, you can pretty much guess how this one ends--Orpheus fails to bring Eurydice back the surface, and they never see each other again. In the opening song, "Road to Hell", Hermes outright tells the audience that the story they're about to watch is "a sad tale, it's a tragedy".

* GreenAesop: The theatrical version of the story links the setting's climate imbalance to Hades' actions -- specifically, his selfishness, industrialization of the Underworld, and reliance on fossil fuels plays a part in the breakdown of his marriage to Persephone, who despises it all.

** Persephone due to her alcohol habit and domestic disputes forgets about spring and lets Hades walk over her even when she has room to protest.
** Hermes seems very angry and disappointed in Orpheus when Eurydice goes underground, and he's ''absolutely devastated'' when Orpheus fails to get her back. And yet he himself does very little to actually try to stop Eurydice from taking Hades' offer or to directly help Orpheus get her back, other than giving him directions to find the "back way" into Hadestown. It's strongly implied that as a god under Hades' rule he ''can't'' do anything to directly help anyone defy Hades.

* GroundhogDayLoop: Crossed with BreakingTheFourthWall. "Road to Hell" begins with Hermes acknowledging this is an old and well-known myth already ("It's an old song... but we're gonna sing it again"), and "Road to Hell (Reprise)" has him tell us they'll sing it again. This is complete with the whole stage resetting to the opening of the show, with Eurydice--whom we just saw lost to Hadestown forever--reappearing as she was before the story happened, once more asking Hermes for a light, however, we know it is slightly different as Persephone arrives on time.

* HereWeGoAgain: "Road To Hell (Reprise)" sees the entire story start over, with Eurydice and Orpheus returning to exactly where they were at the start of the show, ready for the tragedy to begin again. In earlier versions Hermes also laments that Hades and Persephone have the same argument every year.

** The second half of Act II is a long string of these. "Epic III" and Hades and Persephone's dance that follows lends credence to the thought that he'd let Eurydice go without a fight. When his conditions are made, Orpheus and Eurydice affirm their love and trust for one another, and even as doubt starts to set in, Eurydice's sections of "Doubt Comes In" bring hope that, even if you know how it ends, maybe ''this'' time he won't screw it up. Her final note swells triumphantly... [[spoiler:before stopping cold when Orpheus looks back.]]
** Invoked by Hermes resetting the story and Eurydice walking back on stage looking for a match to light her candle. Maybe... ''just maybe'' this time the tale will end differently.
* HopeSpringsEternal: This ends up being the core theme of the show -- Orpheus' song contains the power of hope that destabilizes Hadestown, restores the workers' individuality, and can bring back spring, and as tragic as the ending of his story is, Hermes can't help replaying it again and again "as though it might turn out this time".

* LetsDuet: Many of the songs -- "Wedding Song" (Orpheus and Eurydice), "Hey Little Songbird" (Hades and Eurydice), "Wait For Me" (Hermes and Orpheus), "How Long" (Persephone and Hades), "Doubt Comes In" (Orpheus and Eurydice), and "I Raise My Cup To Him" (Persephone and Eurydice).

* ManipulativeBastard: Hades, who never commits direct violence against Eurydice but instead lures her to Hadestown and away from her husband through seduction and preying on her fear of having to provide for both herself and Orpheus. Even when he's persuaded to give Orpheus and Eurydice a chance to be together again, he manages to come up with a deal that seems fair and which Orpheus will agree to but still ends with Hades getting exactly what he wants.

* MusicalChores: "Chant" and its reprise are structured around the workers of Hadestown singing a dreary work song ("Oh, you gotta keep your head, keep your head low...") while the main characters sing verses over them. Notably this makes "Chant" a DarkReprise of "Wedding Song", which depicts a carefree bucolic paradise.

-->'''Eurydice''': ''Orpheus, you are not alone\\

Comes right before the dawn--'' (gasps as Orpheus turns around)

** Persephone personifying the Moon as a woman and, specifically, as a pornographic pinup model -- comparing letting people see the night sky through the crack in the Wall to a pay-per-view peep-show -- is extra resonant if you know the myth of Artemis and Actaeon, and how voyeuristically looking at the Goddess of the Moon nude was an extra taboo act in ancient Greek myth.

--->'''Hades:''' Nothing makes a man so bold/As a woman's smile and a hand to hold/But all alone his blood runs thin/And doubt comes-- [Hesitant DramaticPause] doubt comes in.

* OperationJealousy: It's heavily implied Hades gets Eurydice into Hadestown to make Persephone take notice, as when she confronts him about it he admits the girl means nothing to him.

* RescuedFromTheUnderworld: The story is based on the myth of Orpheus, though in this case, Eurydice isn't literally dead but instead trapped in an underground city as a worker.

* SayMyName: At the very last second, [[spoiler:Orpheus looks back, trapping Eurydice in Hadestown forever. The last thing the lovers ever say to each other are heartbroken whispers of each other's names.]]

'''Orpheus:''' [[spoiler: ''Eurydice...'']]

* ShowWithinAShow: A hybrid of this and NoFourthWall -- the show imagines itself as a low-budget improvised performance put together by traveling performers in some abandoned warehouse somewhere in the Mississippi Delta in the Great Depression (even though in RealLife it's obviously a high-budget, high-tech Broadway production). Hermes repeatedly talks straight past the fourth wall about how this is an "old song, that was written long ago" and all the current performers are doing is reenacting it, and the actors sing one final song fully out of character ("We Raise Our Cups") after the curtain falls.

** "Road to Hell (Reprise)" at first begins with nothing but a few tinkling piano notes as Hermes returns to the stage. After he says, "It's a sad song...and that is how it ends," the music stops entirely.

** The three fates tell us to not judge Eurydice because she was desperate, and desperate people often do what they need to survive a harsh world.

* ThemeTuneRollCall: "Road to Hell" introduces the Fates, the gods, and men in that order. Anaïs Mitchell commented that BreakingTheFourthWall and directly introducing all the characters -- along with the chorus and the band -- to the audience at the top of the show as a very old-school theatrical flourish was one of the things they stole directly from ''Theatre/NatashaPierreAndTheGreatCometOf1812'', along with stealing Amber Gray.

* VillainousAdviceSong: In "Chant Reprise" Hades gives Orpheus advice as to how to make a woman stay with you, advising such things as "hang a chain around her throat", or "shackle her from wrist to wrist".
* VillainousLament: "How Long," in which a surprisingly vulnerable Hades shows bitter regret not for his villainous deeds, but for the [[DestructiveRomance dysfunctional nature]] of his marriage. What's tragic is that both Hades and Persephone seem to truly love each other even as that damaged love pains and tortures them.

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: In "Hey Little Songbird," Hades tempts Eurydice into leaving the man she loves in favor of a safe, comfortable life. She agrees and eventually comes to regret it. The Fates converse about it in "Gone, I'm Gone", asserting that Eurydice shouldn't be judged for her choice since most people would've done the same if they'd been in her position.
* WhamShot: Orpheus turning back. Eurydice gasps, the music cuts, the lights are turned on and everybody stays frozen in dead silence as she's dragged down back to Hadestown for good and there's nothing anyone can do to stop it.

* YouCantFightFate: As Hermes says, the ending never changes, no matter how many times you sing the song. He still tries, though; he tells Orpheus to not neglect Eurydice, warns Eurydice what Hadestown is like, tries to convince Orpheus to give up Eurydice when she vanishes, and when Orpheus is set on finding her he tells him how to get there safely and gives advice on the road out.